After Equality
by telleroftails-weaverofdreams
Summary: Five hundred years after the Amon purged the first major city of bending, citizens of Republic City gather to celebrate Equality Day...Except for one girl who has been lost in dreams of the past. Written for the Probending Circuit Round 2. Being continued
1. Chapter 1

a/n: Prompt is Nonbending!AU. There are great advancements in medicine and technology here. Enjoy!

Word count: 1,344

* * *

><p>Five centuries after the Equalist revolution, a fifteen-year-old girl flopped in her bed and stared listlessly at the ceiling, listening to the hasty footsteps downstairs as her parents prepared to leave for the city. Today, this week, there was no school because of the Equality Festival. Today was the Five hundredth anniversary of the first purge of the bending epidemic. Posters of the mystical and greatly admired mask of Amon, humanity's purifier, was hung up all over Republic City on this fateful day in history.<p>

The girl, Cewong, heard her family's Satocraft start up and pressed her face to the window. She watched her parents glide off, floating like a disc through the wind. She sighed indolently, starting to regret her choice of not joining her parents on their celebration in the city.

But, then, she remembered what they'd done.

_They burned my dream journal._

One of her only possessions of importance, where she recorded night after night of vivid, beautiful visions. Visions of adventure, of nature, of love and fear and spirits...and strangest of all...bending. Cewong could almost feel the power of thousand sun and stars, visiting her in the night.

But it was all terrible. She was terrible and corrupted for dreaming about such things! And worst of all, she craved this perverseness, the dreams about the sensation of the elements in her bones. What was wrong with her?

_Many, many things._

She couldn't tell her parents or her friends. They would think she was insane for sure. She would be given therapy, and acupunture to erase her memories, and surgury in order to eliminate any potential bending attacks in her body.

No...she couldn't tell anyone. It would've been best to keep it to herself, and her journal.

Slowly, she had let go of most of her friends and family. She even distanced herself from her parents in order to be able to go back to that wonderful dream-like world, where splendidly beautiful creatures and people would show her visions of their past.

* * *

><p>The fantastical images started visiting her when she turned eleven, and have only been increasing in depth and importance since. But they never felt physical. She never could never touch them. She could move however she wanted, but whenever she tried to touch something, it would go right throught her hand.<p>

Oh well. Simply being in that world was more than enough for her anyways.

There were forests of vibrant trees, expansive plains of fresh radiant grass, and a sky that lit up like the spirits used to at the poles, according to folklore. There was a lady with a painted face, and a man with an arrow on his head, and a wistful looking girl with three archaic Water Tribe-style warrior tails on her head. And even two normal people, like her, were there! Unfortunately, she could not hear them. Their mouths moved soundlessly as they showed visions of her doing things that her parents taught her to be wrong. They were vile, disgusting acts. Harmful to the rest of society.

Nobody deserves such a curse...right?

Besides, none of it was real anyways. Yet she still craved it. Especially now that she was ostracized by almost everyone she knew. She had no friends, no trustworthy confidants. No person to tell her amazing dreams to.

So she turned to pen and paper: chapters and chapters, thousands of inked pages, full of her stories and her dream-friends' stories. All in her precious journal.

Soon, she was spending most of her day in a trance, and her parents started to get worried. They questioned her constantly, never quite believing her excuses of 'being tired.' Suspicion made them read into her every action.

No matter what happens though, she cannot let them see her journal. She had kept it hidden in the inside of her mattress, where nobody would think to look.

It should've been safe! It was hers! Her real life now! How dare anyone take it from her!

How dare they burn her entire thousand page masterpiece before her eyes.

Remembering how the pages shriveled and blackened, how the fire reflected off of her flat grey eyes...it brought up such fury out of her. It still did...

* * *

><p>Cewong squeezed her head between her hands, willing herself to empty her body of anger. She had to be calm and forgiving, just like the arrow headed monk had told–<p>

_No...stop thinking like this...he isn't real...none of it is real...you are abnormal, you need to stop thinking of this. It brings only pain and destruction to yourself._

She needed to get away, to go on a walk, or a swim.

Nodding once to herself, she changed into a pair of shorts, slipped a couple apples and a towel into her airtight backpack, and jogged over to the river near her house. Perhaps swimming to the mountains east of her house would do her some good. And she had plenty of time.

Her parents weren't likely to be back until very late at night. And even if they got home early, they wouldn't care if she was gone anyways. She was quite a disappointment

_Whatever. I don't need anyone else's approval._

* * *

><p>Not ten minutes after Cewong emerged from the creek, a few miles downstream from where she started, it started to pour. Initially, the rain had felt refreshing, but after a while, it was cold and dark like a whirlwind of black dewdrops. Flashes of lightning ripped through the sky, thunder rolled over the damp forest and she really didn't want to jog three or four mile home in the raging storm.<p>

No matter. She was close to the mounainous caves now. She could stay in one until the rain stopped. Perhaps she would even sleep and visit her dreams again...

Nestled away in the depths of the cave, Cewong crossed her legs and laced her fingers right beneath her abdomen. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, rocking back into the the stone wall behind her.

But to her alarm, the entire wall rattled, and a pebble fell on her head.

Cewong immediately bounced onto her feet and leaned in closer to investigate. From the illumination of violent white bursts of lightning, she could just barely make out dozens of compartments, like a gigantic fossilized honeycomb. Each compartment had a large, perfectly cut stone to fit it, engraved with three curiously familiar looking swirls.

Warily, Cewong slid out the first hexagonal stone cap and peered inside. To her surprise, she found a ancient, fragile-looking bamboo scroll, glazed over with clear, hardened pine resin. The first inscription read:

_Archives of Jinora, Daughter of Former Councilman Tenzin. Grandaughter of Avatar Aang and Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe._

_"The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. __The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. __Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields __to purifying light"._

What? That line sounds awfully familiar... and was this "Jinora" person the daughter of a councilman? Then why were her archives sitting a dank cave instead of an actual study? And how did she get this wall to be coverend in such perfect, uniform stone cubbies? And how could she be related to an Avatar? According to her school textbook, the Avatar was just a legend.

Puzzled, Cewong opened the scroll and moved to the mouth of the cave, where she began to read by the flashes of lightning.

Little did she know that this tiny scroll would plant knowledge into her millenia old spirit; it would fill the emptiness and sow the seeds for a new revolution.

* * *

><p>an: Cewong: (T'SEH-wahng) a tibetan name that means 'empowered life.'

Korra, as well as the next earth and fire avatar are gone now, so we're back to air. Ever since Korra lost her bending, the avatar spirit has been crippled in it's ability to bend, but it can still choose a person to continue the cycle. Spirituality still exists, but without bending. This is why Aang wasn't able to touch Cewong or give her bending back.

Also, there is new technology that allows doctors to alter people's memories and abilities through surgery and Qi points. Bending is now considered a "perversity" and people remove it from their children at birth.


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: Okay, I got requests from my effervescent Probending team, I'm going to continue this fic! We left off with a lady reading in a cave. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Weak, pale light washed across the face of a sleeping girl. The watery sun rose over Republic City, filtering through the smoggy remnants of last nights rain. But in the cave, it was cool and damp.<p>

Cewong was still dreaming, hugging the scroll she'd been reading last night like it was a teddy bear. This time, her dreams were of a man with a wide brimmed cap and boyish smile, gazing pensively over rolling dunes of sand. They were in the air, riding on the current of bone dry winds, harsh yellow sunlight streaking across the desert sky. But soon they started to descend, towards a tiny tower between the arid waves. Like a toy lighthouse for weary travellers in a lonely sea of sand.

She leaned over, trying to see closer, but the sand was rising upon her like a tidal wave, like a predator waiting to swallow her whole. She leapt away, and felt herself fly, right up to the crest of the wave. She was almost over, when the sand crashed into her middle, washing her back to the earth. Everything was darkening again, while the waves continued to nudge her stomach. She curled up tighter, but they continued to prod into her, as if it were in search of something...

_Snuffle..._

_Sniff..._

_Sniff..._

* * *

><p>"<em>Nuh!<em>" gasped Cewong as she started awake. Immediately, she was aware that she was clammy, stiff, and touching something wet and furry. She snapped her head up dizzyingly fast, and scrambled backwards until she smacked into the wall of the cave. To her surprise, there was a large, handsome, sandy haired fox sitting right where she'd fallen asleep last night, staring into her eyes, and _not_ running away in fear, for one reason or another.

"Erm...nice, fox thingy?" she said, reaching out a dubious hand in greeting.

The fox went up and sniffed her fingertips before whining at her and nudging her bag open with its furry snout and snuffled around until her two apples tumbled out.

"Aww...are you hungry?" murmured Cewong, reaching out to pet the fox.

The fox stared at her for a moment while she rand his fingers though its pelt. Its fur was soft as silk, smooth and fine to the point that it was almost vaporous. The fox stared at her with dark, wise eyes, almost like it held the lost secrets of thousands of years in its depths. Cewong stared into the mesmerizing chocolate pits, feeling the oddest sense of familiarity. She could've sworn that she'd seen it before.

_If only I could remember where..._

Suddenly, the fox lurched forwards and snapped at her torso. Cewong gasped and leapt back in fear as the large fox barrelled into her, knocking her onto her back. She rolled over and curled up timidly, but to her surprise, she wasn't remotely injured.

She glanced up, and realized that the fox was holding the scroll in it's mouth.

_What would a fox want a scroll for?_

Cewong leapt up and tried to go after the it, but unfortunately, it chose to run away from her this time, large paws darting soundlessly over to the mouth of the cave. Then, the fox broke into a gallop, gathering speed as its legs began to blur against the damp, yellowing grass on the hillside. Then, the it took flight!

Cewong rubbed her eyes incredulously, not sure whether she was still in her dreams.

_Foxes do not fly...foxes do not fly, right?_

But this one did; it wheeled through the sky, becoming fainter and fainter. The fox's sandy pelt turned translucent against the foggy skies, until the last ghost-like vapours evaporated into the clouds.

For a solid minute after it disappeared, Cewong stood at the mouth of the cave, staring numbly towards the exact spot in the sky where the fox had vanished. Suddenly, she pinched herself on the wrist, and yelped when she felt a prick of pain.

_Why did it hurt? Am I not dreaming still?_

She slowly wandered back into the cave, meticulously picking through every square inch of the dingy interior to confirm that the scroll was indeed missing. She scratched her head in confusion. Physical creatures couldn't just disappear, right? And she still could not, for the life of her, figure out why in the world a fox would want a measly roll of etched bamboo.

Well...it actually wasn't that measly. In fact, the scroll was beautifully narrated, even though it was only the personal journal of a twenty-something-year-old. Cewong could sense great maturity from each carefully carved character. And the tales it told were so surreal that is was almost like her dreams.

It spoke of a girl who was an Avatar, a "reincarnation" of the narrator's, _(Jinora, was it?)_ grandfather. Apparently, she had been defeated by Amon, the savior of the world.

But that couldn't be right. First of all, the Avatar was just a legend; her teachers and parents had all told her so. Second of all, the narrator seemed to be speaking in sympathy towards the Avatar, and against Amon, which meant she was evil. And third of all, Amon had no siblings, or bending, or anything! He was a poor, scarred, lonesome child who eradicated a sickness from the world, right? He was given a gift from...somewhere. Nobody knew where he'd learned purification skills, but with such advancements in medicine within the past few centuries, there was no need to do it with his method anymore. Who would want to tell lies about that?

However, the woman who wrote this said that Amon was a...a...a _bloodbender._ A person who could control another person's body fluids.

Cewong shuddered at the very thought of it. It couldn't be possible. This girl must be lying. This Jinora person must be trying to poison the minds of the future generations with evil stories.

And yet, Cewong still couldn't believe that the narrator of the scroll had virulent intentions. The way she wrote seemed almost penseive: eloquent, but with strong undertones of melancholy. It was like she'd lost hope already, and was simply emptying herself as a coping mechanism.

Cewong sighed, running her hands through her pale brown bobcut in confusion.

Suddenly, her stomach growled. All that thinking must have sparked her appetite. After all, she had not eaten since the left her house yesterday...

Wait...

Her house...

Her parents...

_Monkeyfeathers._

With a sinking feeling of dread, Cewong realized that she'd been out the entire night.

_Ohhhhh...my parents are going to kill me._

Hastily, Cewong snatched up her bag and sprinted down the dew-speckled mountainside, back to her house in the suburbs of Republic City, putting the morning's supernatural events behind her.

* * *

><p>an: _What does the fox say!?_ (ringdingdingdingding...)

JK. I dedicate this chapter to Ms. K216 and karanathefirebender.

Reviewies plz!


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: Okay, little feels ahead. And if something looks familiar, it is not mine.

Oh Yis, and we left off with Cewong seeing a fox fly and realizing she slept in a cave.

* * *

><p>Silently, Cewong scaled the tree outside her house, hoping that no one would see her. To no avail, she tried to control her panting after sprinting three or four miles to get home.<p>

_CrapCrapCrapCrapCrapCrap_...she chanted internally, perched on a branch outside her window and taking hideous, gasping breaths. She glanced at her watch, her panic increasing when she saw that it was already ten thirty. Hopefully, the long night out would keep her parents from waking up too early.

Cewong haphazardly scrambled through the window and slung her bag to the ground, pausing in alarm when she heard a tiny intimation of footsteps touching the ground down the hall. Hastily, she ripped off her clothes and kicked off her shoes, managing to slip into the covers of her bed right as a bedraggled head poked through the door.

"Hon?" asked her mother, carefully opening the door of Cewong's room.

"Yeah?" replied Cewong, nervously peeking from beneath the covers. Hopefully, her mother won't notice the twigs and mud tangled in her hair.

"Cewong, can you be honest with me?" sighed her mother, moving to sit at the foot of the bed. Cewong surreptitiously scooted a bit further away with an uncomfortable sinking feeling in her chest.

"Yeah, mom, what's up?" she asked, leaning back and not quite meeting her mother's eyes.

"Cewong, were you out of the house last night?"

"Er...Yeah."

_That's why I wasn't _in_ the house, mother._

"When did you come home?"

"Uh….after you guys fell asleep?"

"We didn't fall asleep."

"Oh. _Errrrm_...I didn't mean to make you worri-"

"Honey, what's the matter with you?" asked her mother, moving closer, "You've been withdrawn and dishonest with us for so long now! Your father and I are very worried."

"Nothing's wrong." said Cewong through gritted teeth.

_Except for the fact that I have no freedom, nope, nothing's wrong…_

"Something _is_, or else you wouldn't be like this!" said her mother somberly, "We've tried everything to make you happy! We've done whatever we can to give you a comfortable life! What else can we do? Tell us, you're obviously _not_ happy right now!"

"You could've left me my dream journal." muttered Cewong petulantly, "That was only like, the most important thing I've ever created."

"_Cewong_." said her father's stern voice, causing her to snap her head up in alarm. He stood in the doorway, with his arms crossed and a stiff face, the only emotion betrayed by a slight furrow of worry on his brow.

"_What_." said Cewong, glancing away.

"Be respectful to your mother."

"Be respectful to me." mumbled Cewong in response, then added, "And to my personal stuff."

"Your _'personal stuff'_ was perverse, and detrimental to your well-being." said her father, with a hint of impatience, "It was ruining your mind and your relationship with you parents and your peers."

"Well, it made me happy!" said Cewong, "And it wasn't hurting you!"

"It was, Cewong. It was hurting you and us and everyone around you." said her mother sadly, "You were withdrawing to your room and sleeping all the time, and not making contact with anybody. Where were you? Why were you always tired?"

"That was because school was stressful."

"Cewong, you were not in honors classes, and you managed averagely high grades with little effort." said her father, "School was obviously not the problem. Was it your friends? Was it a bully? If there was anyone who was-"

"It was me, okay?" she said impatiently, "It has nothing to do with either of you, or my friends, or anything."

Her mother glanced backwards, exchanging a look with her father. "Cewong...your father and I have been talking, and..."

_Uh oh. This couldn't be anything good._

"...And we think you have schizophrenia and depression."

"What!? I'm normal! I was making myself perfectly happy!" said Cewong indignantly.

"Do not take that tone with your mother."

"_Sorry_." she muttered, not looking the least bit repentant.

"We've signed you up for therapy sessions."

"_WHAT!?_" snapped Cewong, "I don't need to talk to some lady that costs a fortune. I need to have freedom!"

"Honey, we've given you so much space." cried her mother, "We've given you time to try and heal yourself, but you insist on hiding away and obsessing over these unhealthy ideas of...of..._bending_ and-"

"So you think talking to a stranger will actually help?" said Cewong glumly.

"It may, considering that you don't talk to us, or your friends." sighed her father, "In fact, you don't have friends, since you've pushed everyone away."

"I'm sorry, okay father? I just don't like being social."

"From what we've seen, you spend plenty of time talking to your _imaginary_ friends-"

"They're not imaginary! Wait, no, _crap_, I mean-"

But this only made her parents widen their eyes even further.

_Crap! Why the heck did I say that?_

"-I'm not serious!" she said a little desperately.

"Cewong...just, please give the therapy a try." said her mother pleadingly, "Please. It's so painful to watch you slip away-"

"Mom. You don't have to say it." interrupted Cewong, looking down in with an overwhelming sense of guilt.

"We only want to protect you." sighed Cewong's father.

"I know, I know." said Cewong.

"Your sessions start the day after tomorrow." said her father.

"Okay, I kind of have homework now." mumbled Cewong sullenly.

"Alright." said her mother, opening her mouth like she wanted to say more, before closing it again.

"Seriously, I'll be okay." said Cewong, trying to force out a smile, "I'll try harder now. I'll be happy!"

Her parents didn't buy it.

But they did exit the room, with all the usual phrases of _"we love you"_ and_ "rest up"_ and _"don't be too upset about this"_ and _"remember that you have school tomorrow"._

Softly, the lock clicked behind them and Cewong could hear their hushed, fretful voices fading as they walked down the hallway. She slapped her hands over her face and vigorously rubbed her eyes with her palms.

_If only my nosey parents never found out about-_

Cewong immediately felt another wave of guilt and she derailed that train of thought. She sighed and slumped back in her bed, feeling ashamed at how she'd been behaving for the past few...well..._years_. Everyone had been nothing but kind to her, so why couldn't she just accept it and be happy? Why couldn't she just live in the real world instead of going off to her dreams of imaginary people and fake power?

She curled up further into her bed, reflecting on what could have made her turn out this way, and her conclusions amounted to...nothing. She literally had no excuses to be such a freak.

She was born into an upper middle class family, she went to an excellent public school in a great community, her parents loved her and got along perfectly, and gave her everything she needed, and she had a great group of friends. Her life was the perfect, priceless image of the ideal suburban life. So why? Why did it all start to begin with?

Sighing, Cewong forced away her oncoming headache. She dragged herself out of bed and pulled out some scrolls and textbooks from her backpack, putting the depressing thoughts behind her. Perhaps doing homework would make her feel better.

* * *

><p>an: That was actually not as feelzy as I wanted it to be. Oh well. This will probably end up being a filler anyways.

Also, the society in this fic _might_ turn out to be what I imagined Asia to be if it had industrialized on its own instead of under the influence of the west.


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: Okay, important background info:

I'm going to pretend years here are based on the time since the first harmonic convergence, because that, to me, is the start of human history in the avatarverse. Also, this current society has a very collective mindset. Meaning, they like to be followers of the social order rather than deviants. There is heavy preference towards mathematics, science, and business, and engineering, and slight shunning towards art and literature.

All in all, the majority is a bit close-minded, but it's not a bad place to live. Almost everyone works hard, health services are very good, and there is little to no domestic abuse. Also, note that Cewong has very good parents. She isn't in a Zuko situation where she needs to be a certain way in order for her parents to love her; her parents are already very responsible and caring.

Oh, and nothing belongs to me. Enjoy.

* * *

><p><em>"Since the year 10,000, Amon has been bringing about a new world order of equality for all. Ever since the beginning of human history, bending has been a mar, the root of all war and strife and social differences. By clever work and diligence, Amon was able to disband and reform a government corrupted by bending in our own city, Republic City. Afterwards, he was able to bring the Equalists out of - <em>Yes, Cewong?" sighed the teacher irritably, breaking off from his lecture at Cewong's raised hand. He cocked an eyebrow at her, as if it was ridiculously inconvenient to answer a question.

"Sir, I don't understand something," said Cewong uncertainly, "Did the people living in Republic City at the time understand the drawbacks of bending?"

"No, Cewong, they resisted his reforms fiercely at first, but after a while, he was able to show them the truth."

"Then why would they resist?" asked Cewong in response, prompting a lot of odd stares from the rest of the class.

"Most benders at the time had an unhealthy addiction to the elements. It gave them a false sense of power and well-being, much like opium does for many people today." explained the teacher, in a similar tone of voice as one would use on a small child.

"Then why wasn't it outlawed earlier?"

"There were no means for nonbenders. Following industrialization, there was technology. I'm sure we've all heard of the innovative Hiroshi Sato, founder of Future Industries." prompted the teacher, glancing around the rest of the classroom, "Now, are there any other questions?" he asked pointedly, "We have much material to cover today."

"One more thing." asked Cewong, ignoring the teacher's passive aggression, and the hisses of her classmates, "Why isn't there any information about the legend of the Avatar?"

The room turned dead silent and the teacher stared at her incredulously.

"There is absolutely no reason to publish anything romanticizing the perverse sickness of bending." he stated, "Some things are best left buried."

Then, he turned back to the board self-righteously and continued his lecture.

* * *

><p>Cewong stared vacantly at the board, feeling more and more confused about all of this.<p>

She had always been curious about the avatar, but she had never managed to obtain any detailed information until she found those scrolls in the cave. Of course, there still wasn't any guarantee that the information was accurate, but everything written in it was logical. She should think that with all the time and advancements of the human race, that there would also be advancements in culture and the accuracy of history and mythology...but no such luck.

The society she lived in, although technologically advance, put little value in culture, literature, or performing arts. Even with a cyberweb connecting all the information of the entire world together, Cewong could never find any dependable source for things that _she_ was interested in. What was truth and what was lies? One could never tell.

There were barely any literary or ancient historical scholars in her time; almost everybody was concerned with the subjects of science and mathematics, business, law, or medicine. Pragmatic subjects. Normal subjects. and in her modern society, certain norms must be followed in order to procure a steady income, a relatively comfortable life, and so far, Cewong has trouble conforming to all of them.

Even though she was somewhat competent with all of her STEM classes, what she truly yearned for was literature, poetry, novels, even history and mythology! She loved nature and culture and art and dancing and music! She couldn't possibly satisfied with such a Spartan education.

There was no food for the spirit anywhere; each individual just lived their own rushed lives, learning more and more about the technicalities of their world, but knowing next to nothing about themselves. It saddened Cewong that nobody really seemed to care about anything.

She sighed and rested her head on her desk for a moment, not noticing that the bell had rung.

"_Cewong!_" barked her teacher, "Wake up!"

"Oh! Sorry sir." she said, hastily packing up upon noticing her teacher's irritated expression, "Erm, I didn't fall asleep. I promise I remembered everything."

"Cewong, I need to speak with you." said her teacher ominously, "I can write you a pass to your next class."

"Uh, Okay." said Cewong, tapping her fingers against the desk anxiously as the rest of the students exited the room, talking and laughing with each other. Her eyes followed them enviously.

_I used to be like that._

"I understand you have very, unconventional interests, but I ask that you please keep them to yourself during class." said her teacher sternly, breaking her out of her thoughts, "It would not do to distract the rest of the class."

"Sorry sir." said Cewong, scuffling her feet around awkwardly.

"Also, I will have to report this to your parents."

"_What!? _I mean...that won't be necessary, sir."

Her teacher raised a skeptical eyebrow and said, "I'm sorry, but this school does not condone your current interests. This is not the first time you have broken the school's policies, whether intentionally or unintentionally."

Cewong nodded with a hint of petulance.

"Now off to your next class." snapped the teacher, whipping out a late pass.

Cewong nodded once more before hastily exiting the room, grumbling under her breath.

How lovely. She would get a report of errant behavior delivered back to her parents, the day after she promised them that she would try harder. And she _was_ trying to be better person and a better citizen! It was just hard not to let curiosity get the better of her!

Huffing irritably, Cewong sprinted to her biology class, hastily shoved the note onto her teacher's desk, and slumped into a seat in the very back corner of the room, while trying to ignore all the odd stares from the rest of the students.

The healer, the teacher of their biology and anatomy class, paused a moment and looked at her with a raised eyebrow before continuing to explain the properties of the Qi points.

Cewong quietly huffed again and took out her tablet, halfheartedly forcing mind to focus on the _enrapturing_ subject of anatomy.

* * *

><p>Afterwards, Cewong had a lunch period and she weaved through the throngs of bustling student headed to the cafeteria, even though she wasn't hungry.<p>

_Maybe I should just go to the library and take a nap..._

NO! She couldn't. She promised her parents and herself that she would try to leave that dreaming foolishness behind.

After giving herself a mental shake, Cewong peered into the cafeteria, and upon noticing the long lunch line, she decided to go to the bathroom first.

Cewong walked into the girls lavatory and stood in front of the sink to wash her hands.

Then, she glanced into the mirror...and gasped. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw a reflection that was not her own! The girl in the mirror had an ethereal nature to it, eyes glowing blue and hair billowing in all directions like it was surrounded by rabid winds, like the people of her dreams.

Cewong's stumbled backwards in fear, but the moment she blinked, it was gone, and her own, plain reflection stared back, muddy grey eyes and short, mousy brown hair. Ordinary. Powerless.

_Great. Now my freakish dreams are turning into hallucinations._

She sighed and ran a bony hand through her hair. Maybe her parents were right to sign her up for therapy. She was now in a constant state of desolate confusion. If she had therapy, she had the feeling that she would still feel desolate, but perhaps the confusion would be gone. Perhaps she would be able to establish a goal, even if it wouldn't fill the emptiness inside.

She exited the bathroom, wondering why she always felt empty. Surely it wasn't normal...

Cewong was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice a group of four giggling girls lurking around the corner.

"_Hey, Cewong._" said the ringleader of the posse of girls with faux sweetness as she flicked glossy, curled hair out of a heavily made up face.

Cewong snapped her head around and immediately grew wary. She lifted a cautious hand slightly in greeting, hoping that they would get the message and leave.

_No such luck._

"So, I heard that you asked about the, Avatar in history class." laughed one of the girls, "_Spirits_, retard, don't you know the avatar's not real?"

"Why are you so interested anyways? Do you want to bender?" sneered the tallest of the group haughtily, looking down her nose as if flaunting her height towards Cewong.

"I bet you were one of the ones who had to have bending removal." hissed the fourth girl, "_Freak_."

Cewong glared up at them and tried to barge past, into the cafeteria, but the four girls formed a wall.

"Don't you have class?" asked Cewong pointedly, backing away from them with caution.

"We can't possibly miss more of the lecture than you do, right?" said the ringleader nastily, "You only ever ask stupid questions and draw and write useless stuff."

"At least I'm curious about things." retorted Cewong, "At least I'm not a vapid sycophant. If you even know what those words mean."

"Oh yeah? I bet you can't even prove the quadratic equation." jeered _'vapid sycophant'_ #3.

"I bet the only reason you _can_ prove it is because you memorize and cheat." snapped Cewong, who was now backed against the lockers.

The girls all ignored Cewong's jibe and opted to stare at her bag in great interest instead.

"What do you even write in that ratty little notebook anyways?" asked the ringleader with glossy curls.

"None of your business!" muttered Cewong, putting her hands over her bag protectively.

"I think it is." said another girl, gleefully making a grab for her bag.

"Let go, brainless bimbo!"

"_WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?_" screeched the girl, tugging viciously on the bag.

Meanwhile, the poor bag, which was not designed to be used for tug of war, tore open at the seams, allowing all of its contents to spill across the floor of the hallway.

Cewong's heart stopped when she saw her second notebook, that she kept even more carefully concealed from her parents, skidding across the floor, into the hands of the cruel girls surrounding her.

"Give it back!" cried Cewong angrily, punching the girl in a series of Qi blocks.

The girl collapsed dramatically onto the floor, crying hideously loud and clutching her sides...right as a teacher emerged from a nearby classroom. Cewong backed away in dread, putting her hand in the air and cursing her luck.

"_What in the spirits name is going on!?_" demanded the teacher, hurrying into the hallway to help the lying, bullying weasle sna...

_Okay. Calm down Cewong. Just tell the truth, you were not in the wrong. You were only defending-_

She was about the open her mouth, but the other girl beat her to it.

"Sir, we were only helping her pick up her books after her bags ripped," sniffled glossy curls girl, "But I asked her what her notebook was and she just got so defensive!"

"That's NOT what happened, you-"

"Cewong, please speak in a civil voice."

Cewong crossed her arms and nearly burst from the unfairness of it all. "_I'm saying-_"

"Sir, I think she's hiding something." interrupted the other girl innocently, "She's been acting very odd lately, and all of her friends are worried."

"You aren't my friends!" snapped Cewong.

"Stop it. Of _course_ we are!" cried he tall girl, shedding her former aloofness more easily than if was a mask.

"_Girls_." sighed the teacher with a hint of exasperation.

They quieted down immediately.

"Cewong," he continued, "I understand that this...journal of yours is a private possession, but due to these suspicions, we will have to examine it."

"_But_-"

"Do not worry. If it is safe, no information will be given to other sources." said the teacher, slipping the notebook into his sleeve.

"_I_-"

"Now _shoo!_ I have a class, and you all have classes." said the teacher, turning his back on them as he strode back into his room.

Cewong stared numbly at the retreating teacher. Watching the teacher walk away with her notebook was even worse than when her parents found it the first time. This time, it wouldn't just be destroyed; it would be given to public investigation and her reputation would be ruined more than it already was. Cewong exhaled, trying to suppress the heavy stone of dread settling in her chest.

_I am royally screwed._

"_Bye bye, bitch_." hissed curly haired ringleader, rubbing her sides pointedly. Before Cewong could say a word, the bratty little posse of four strutted off, leaving her standing in the middle of the hallway like an idiot, surrounded by a ripped bag and scattered papers.

Logically, Cewong should have been angry, but she was getting so tired about everything that she couldn't bring herself to care. She was in such emotional turmoil between the dread of her biggest secret being publicized, and her confusion about the truth and history of her world, and the unadulterated certainty that _something was wrong with her._

_Stop it. Stop it wimp._

She scolded herself roughly. She screwed up so many times. Her parents must be so ashamed of her.

_Why does it have to be like this?_

Cewong wished that she had been born a little more _ordinary_. Perhaps then, she would be a better fit for her perfect, ordinary life.

Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, Cewong began the tedious process of picking up all her scattered books.

_I can't wait for this day to end._

* * *

><p>an: _The Notebook_ (yeah, not quite...)

Okay! This chapter is dedicated to all the followers: Dragonchampion, Ms.K216, gillian808, and someonesomewhere18

You are awesome!

And thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

a/n: a few things: Cewong's thoughts will be italicized.

Also, think of bending and the Avatar, and any bending related things as illegal and frowned upon, like substance abuse. Therefore, it's censored. Being found with that stuff on you won't land you in jail, but it completely ruins your reputation.

Also, Cewong has terrible judgement. Like seriously, she's a bit screwed up in the head. Still humane and intelligent...but not _normal_, per se. She is reckless with her own life and sucks at expressing herself.

We left off with the little lady's journal being found at school. Oh ya, and nothing is mine. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>That evening, Cewong was getting ready for bed, and realized something...if the school got a hold of her journal, they would know about everything: the dreams, the people, and...the cave...<p>

_Crap, no, not the cave!_

If any officials found out about the cave, they would surely confiscate all of its contents and she would never be able to learn anything else. All those scrolls, all that potential knowledge and truth, gone forever. The thought made Cewong twitchy with panic. What if they started already?

Cewong splashed cold water in her face and padded down the hallway, into her room. Then she began to pace. She knew with absolute conviction that she had to find out what else was in those archives; she felt an insistent voice _(was it her conscience or something more malicious?)_ telling her to go.

Soon, she had decided. Against all logic and reasoning, Cewong decided to sneak out that night and take pictures of all the scrolls. As long as nobody could see the pictures in her phone, she would be safe...

But if they read her journal, they'd probably have to do thorough search of all her possessions, including her cell phone, and tablet, and they would just find the photos anyways. And if the police _really_ suspected her, they would be able to track any of her electronics, so it would be no use hiding it.

_Darn it._

Maybe she should just 'lose' her phone in the woods, let it run out of battery, and recharge it later to find the pictures. But then, they would just track her phone the moment it recharged.

Suddenly, Cewong was struck with a pang of guilt. She was turning into such a deceitful person who lied and cheated and subtly broke the law behind her parents' back. She should stop this nonsense now! Before she gets caught!

Well...the key word is _'should'_, which was not he same as _'would'_.

So that is why, against her better judgement, Cewong is now sneaking out of the house via the tree outside her window. On her back was a bag with a flashlight and outdated, mechanical camera. There was no way anyone would track that thing!

At the base of the tree, Cewong paused a moment to glance back and make sure her parents were in their room and nobody's lights were on. Then, she hopped on her bike and sped off into the moonless night, towards the woods on the fringes of her community.

* * *

><p>About 20 minutes later, Cewong was clambering up the dark, stony hillside towards the place where she remembered the mountainous caves to be. However, there were so many caverns dotting along the mountainside, and she had to investigate each one before finally coming to the cave lined with familiar stone cubbies, full of dubious, addictive knowledge.<p>

Cewong hastily pulled out the old, mechanical camera and shone her flashlight across the dozens of hexagonal cubbies on the wall. Then, she pulled out one of the stone caps and carefully spread the second bamboo scroll across the floor.

She was about to take a picture, when suddenly, she heard a rustling coming from the dark meadow outside the cave.

Cewong froze for a moment before urgently snapping her flashlight off. She silently scrambled to the back of the cave, heart thudding painfully in her throat. Her stomach felt like a mass of squirming gravel and she could barely breath with panic.

But the rustling did not return. After another tense minute of silence, Cewong let out a relieved exhale, before reprimanding herself for being so twitchy.

_Silly girl. It was probably just a deer-cat or something._

With false bravado, she reopened her flashlight and camera and made her way back to the scroll, preparing to spend a long night documenting all of the ancient archives. A chilly breeze swept in from the mouth of the cave, and she turned her back on it, pulling her shawl tighter around herself and positioning the camera for the first picture...

Suddenly, a lurid, white light flashed across the cave and Cewong snapped her head up in fear.

"_FREEZE!_" shouted a voice from the edge of the cave.

With dread sinking into her stomach like a heavy pile of worms, Cewong slowly turned her head around, and was met with the sight of two police officers, each with a taser pointed towards her.

The entire cave was illuminated with the artificial, blinding brightness from their flashlights. The fifteen year old blinked numbly and held up her hands, and trying to ignore the riotous mix of fear, guilt, and trepidation that seemed to pump through her veins with every painful heartbeat.

"What are you doing here, kid?" demanded the first policeman, a gruff, greying man with a straggly mustache.

"I...nothing..." stammered Cewong uncertainly.

"Please step aside so that we may search your person." said the second cop, a woman who also looked severe, but not quite as old or caustic as the man.

Cewong willed herself to move, but for some reason her limbs couldn't respond. She could only stare at the two officers dumbly, mind clouding with inexplicable panic.

"Miss, you must step aside _now_," commanded the female officer while giving the taser a meaningful twitch, "Or we will have to employ force."

Cewong hastily stooped to pick up the scroll against her better judgement, and stood up, hoping that the officers wouldn't notice.

No such luck.

"Keep your hands above your head." barked the policeman, "And release your possession right now."

Cewong was still indecisive, and slowly losing her nerves as the officers backed her into the corner or the cave, their sharp commands mixing into grey, background noise. With such an adrenaline-clouded mind, everything was too vivid and blurry, sounds too loud and indistinct, colors blending into one bright blob.

In her stressed state, Cewong could not obey the policeman's order. Instead, she made a panicked dash for the exit of the cave, still clutching the scroll.

This, of course, was the least intelligent choice to make.

Cewong heard a whizzing noise as two clipped wires shot out at her, and she heard the buzzing static of electricity long before she felt it. An awful, searing sensation of buzzing nerves and agonizingly contracted muscles seized her body, and after an infinitely long second of dull pain, she blacked out.

* * *

><p>When Cewong woke up, she was aware of the sensation of falling, and building speed faster and faster...<p>

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and she saw herself hurtling into what seemed like a gigantic, dark building with stone bridges in the shape of a 't'. The crossed bridges spanned over a square chasm, from which story after of story of shelves stood, illuminated by eerie green light.

"Help!" yelped Cewong to nobody in particular. Then, she remembered that this was probably just a dream, where weight, mass, and gravity really had no effect.

She chided herself for initially thinking this surreal building was real, and willed her body to slow its descent, until her feet gently touched the surface of the stone bridge below. Upon landing, she looked around and noticed that the building was artfully carved, with owls adorning the arches and pillars that led to hundreds of hallways full of...books!

Now, it occurred to Cewong that this was probably a library.

_Why would I dream of a library?_

Maybe it had something to do with the the scrolls that were going to be confiscated and destroyed. Perhaps her mind was trying to compensate for the fact that she would never find out the rest of what this _"Jinora"_ person stored in the cave.

Cewong sighed in disappointment and slumped against the railing of the stone bridge, cursing her stupidity. Not only would she never find out the contents of the scrolls, but now, she would probably be arrested for insubordination. And to top it all off, she would be be extraordinarily sore and tired when she wakes after being tasered.

Oh yes, and there was also the thing with disappointing her parents, but Cewong had already kind of given up on fixing that, because she was basically born a disappointment. Maybe she should try to never wake up. Maybe she should just stay in her lucid dream world forever, especially if her mind can generate all this lovely, readable literature, and the colorful countryside, and a bunch of people she can stay with, even if she can't talk to them.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over the patch of ground that she had been staring at dejectedly. Cewong looked up in alarm, straight into the dark, bottomless eyes of a giant, black owl looming over her like a wraith.

Its beak was moving, but she could hear nothing coming out. It cocked it's head irritably at her bewildered expression.

"Erm...I can't hear anything..." explained Cewong, hoping that she did not offend the large, dangerous looking bird of prey. Then, she remembered that nothing could hurt her because none of this was real anyways!

_Silly wimp._

Meanwhile, the giant owl bent its long neck to look her in the eyes, as if to read her intentions.

"Is this all yours?" asked Cewong, awed by the sheer scale of the library.

The owl nodded curtly, before raising a massive wing to point upwards towards the exit. It obviously wanted her to leave.

"May I have just a small peek?" said Cewong hesitantly, glancing around the massive palace of archives, "I love this library! I could stay here, forever, reading...-OW!"

The owl had clouted her over the head with its wing before gesturing down a hallway leading away from the bridges. Cewong turned and gasped when she saw a dried corpse, clad in archaic clothing and a wide-brimmed hat, slumped against the shelves.

Cewong got an uncomfortable shivering sensation down her spine upon seeing the whithered remains of a once living, breathing human being. Then, upon closer inspection, she found that parts of it looked oddly familiar.

_Where have I seen that hat before?_

Then, she heard and irritable flap of wings, snapping her attention back to forwards.

"_Huh?_ Oh sorry Mr...erm...owl, sir?" stammered Cewong warily looking back at the corpse. Then, with a little bit of mental straining, Cewong was able to remember where that corpse had come from! The dream she had the night she found the cave...about the man with intelligent eyes who was flying through the desert with her. But why would she dream about him again, and make him dead at that?

She was about to open her mouth to say more, when suddenly, she saw a lupine shape slinking behind the owl's back.

Cewong tilted her head slightly to the side and saw...a fox? A handsome sandy colored fox that was exactly like the one that morning in the cave, the morning after she dreamed about the man! Was it real? Was it a figment of her imagination too? It couldn't have been! She remembered touching the fine pelt with her own hands, she remembered it taking away the first scroll and running away and flying-

_Yeah...it was probably a hallucination._

"I wish you were real." sighed Cewong to herself, "Then you could help me save the rest of the scrolls."

Suddenly, the fox bound up to her and looked up at towards the owl, which seemed to be speaking words to it.

Cewong stood up and looked between the two of them, immensely curious.

_Why can't my stupid dreams have an audio feature?_

The owl then whipped around and squinted at her with narrowed eyes, before touching his wing lightly onto the fox's back, and making a small, white spark.

Cewong gasped when she felt a massive surge of energy, almost like a high frequencey sound wave, rush through the room.

Suddenly, Cewong felt herself being jerked off of the stone floor, backwards through the dozens of stories in the library until she reached the sky, and she could see a sickly green emitted by the jungle where the library had hung upside down. Then, all the colors of the ground began to blend together like a waterspout of liquidated grass, wood and stone. She yelped and squeezed her eyes shut as the hurricane collided with her torso and sent her hurtling high, higher, and higher...until...

All motion stopped for a second, and Cewong warily cracked open an eye.

And gasped in horror.

She was back in the cave, but NOT IN HER BODY.

Cewong cried out in panic when she realized that her body was slumped against the cold wall of the cave, where the two police officers were investigating the scrolls. She looked down and noticed that her hands were blue and transparent.

_Am I dead?_

Suddenly, a ferocious current of wind started to whip around the room, alarming the police officers and disturbing the shawl that Cewong had wrapped around her physical , her body's eyes were beginning to light up.

Within moments, her hair was whipping around her face, and her eyes were glowing the same eerie, ethereal blueish-white she had seen in her reflection in the bathroom mirror!

Then, the entire cave began to rumble, and with a blinding flash of light, the little fox appeared in the cave again. Except this time, it was four or five times the size of a normal fox, and black and violet instead of beige and brown.

With great terror, Cewong noticed that her own body's eyes were starting to fill with redness as well, and her gaping mouth let out a stream of black fire, which the demonic fox seemed to be drawing energy from.

_How is that even possible!?_

Meanwhile, the police officers stood huddled in the back of the cave, terror stricken eyes reflecting the mixed pure and corrupted light from her body. They watched helplessly as the fox advanced to where the scrolls were, a growl coming from within its bared fangs.

After a brief investigation of the bookshelf, the fox lunged forwards, jaws gaping open, and attacked the compartmentalized archives with the vigor of a bear snapping through honeycombs. The entire wall of the cave smashed to pieces with a thunderous _CRASH! _and the monstrous fox snatched up all the dozens of scrolls in its massive jaws.

Then, the winds started to slow down, and Cewong's body seemed to shrink into itself, light fading from her eyes and her hair settled around her pale face like limp yarn. The black energy from her mouth started to thin out until it was barely a thread, which the fox hung onto for a slight moment more, before..._pop!_

All at the same time, the thread of black fire snapped, the fox vaporized out of existence, and Cewong felt a jerking motion along her spine as she was sucked back into her physical body from top of her head. After another blur of color, her world was engulfed in blackness, and pain, and stifling fatigue, all evidently, achingly _real_.

She didn't even have enough strength or willpower to open her eyes yet...

After a few more moments, Cewong finally forced her eyelids to wrench themselves open when she heard a muffled shuffling of feet coming from the other side of the cave. She groaned and numbly watched the movement of the wary officers, head tilted backwards at an awkward angle since her neck muscles decided to stop obeying her brain.

"_W-What are you?_" breathed one of the guards in fear as the other one went outside to call for backup.

Cewong simply closed her eyes, refusing to believe the events that had just occurred.

_You know what? This cannot possibly be happening._

Cewong told herself that she had not actually seen a giant demon fox, or watched her own body start to glow, or observe the destruction of an entire wall of rock. Surely, she just fell asleep while photographing the scrolls! Surely, she would wake up in the wee hours of morning and realize that she would be late for a _normal_ school day in her _normal_ body in her _normal_ life.

She chanted this hope for normality to herself, even as she heard the indistinct voice of an officer say _"you're under arrest"_ and felt cold metal cuff her hands together and burly arms carry her to a seat in the back of...some sort of vehicle.

But deep inside, she knew with a heavy heart, that what had happened was real. No matter how supernatural or crazy it seemed, she had witnessed the truth. She also knew that after this moment, nothing will be the same again.

But for now, she didn't care. She was so tired and just needed to sleep. Cewong sighed and exhaled the last shreds of her consciousness, allowing herself to fall into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>an: welp, that was a rather depressing chapter.

Review! Criticize the crap out of it!

Oh yis, and before I forget, thank you all reviewers and followers! You are awesome!


	6. Chapter 6

a/n: Okay, I am crap at writing relationships with parents, so anything related to that will be awkward. Also, crazy new character! (just a note, the new character is 19 years old.)

And we left off with Cewong accidentally summoning a spirit fox, getting arrested, and falling asleep in the police's technological hover-car thingy.

Oh, and nothing belongs to me.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>There was a sea of blackness, of perfect, warm, soft unconsciousness to soothe her fatigued body and mind. And during the entire rest of the time she was asleep, there was only darkness and no dreams, a rare occurrence for Cewong. For the first time in years, her rest was peaceful.<p>

But slowly, sadly, she was dragged out of her deep slumber as the tendrils of consciousness crept into her mind, and she was aware of lying on a coarse bed. Cewong opened her heavy eyelids, surprised by the sterile white light that flooded the room. With contracted pupils, she sat up and looked around mindlessly for one more moment before realizing that she was probably very late for school.

_Wait..._

She didn't have school...

Because of last nights events...

Because she was probably in jail.

Cewong groaned and slapped her hands over her eyes.

_I really do not want to remember that weird, creepy, demon...ugh._

Suddenly, she froze when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway, and hastily squirmed back under the covers. Perhaps she could fake sleep for a few more moments.

The grey metal door slid open, and a nurse strode into the room, holding a small white clipboard.

Through barely opened eyes, Cewong observed the nurse pattering around the room, measuring medicine and examining the monitors before coming over to her bedside.

"Get up." said the nurse briskly, "I can tell you are not asleep."

Cewong got out of the covers, slightly chagrined.

"How could you tell?" she asked curiously.

The nurse ignored her and shoved a bowl of muddy, fetid herbal medicine into her hands instead.

"Drink all of this and put on some clothing." barked the nurse, pointing to her clothing at the foot of the bed, which had been cleaned and mended. "I will come back in five minutes." the nurse said, starting to leave.

"Wait!" said Cewong hesitantly, "Am I-"

"You are in Republic city prison A2." interrupted the nurse without batting an eyelash, "Further explanations will be given later."

Then, she strode out of the room, slamming the metal door shut on the way out.

Cewong winced at the resounding _clang_! The inside of the head felt extremely tender and her limbs still felt leaden. Internally, she groaned. Since she was in prison, she would either never see her parents again, or they would visit her and be all kind and understanding and make her feel even more ashamed than before. (She honestly couldn't decide which was worst.)

Plus, this just happened to be the most notorious prison in Republic City, rumored to be the unofficial interrogation (torture) chamber for dangerous political prisoners. She was nervously stewing. The rumors _should_ be false, right? After the Egualist Revolution, the world had entered a new era of stability and humanity, so any whispers of torture should just be overactice imaginations. And even if they weren't, nobody would seriously harm an underaged girl...

Well, at least they they be less likely to if she complied with some of their requests. Starting with the medicine.

Cewong glanced down into the murky bowl of brown liquid in her hands. It looked even more disgusting than the little packets of instant herbal remedies that her mother brewed for her colds. But her mouth felt like sandpaper, and she was thirsty enough to drink just about anything.

Taking a deep breath and trying not to inhale the bitter fumes, Cewong tilted the her head back and drained the entire bowl in five gulps. Spluttering at the foul taste, she slammed the bowl on the table and grimaced before dragging herself out of the starched bed sheets to get dressed.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, she had been fed,and taught all the rules of the prison, and was being herded down a hallway, past steel doors lined in uniform rows. There were a couple guards stationed throughout, watching for any potential escapees.<p>

Finally, she was stopped in front of a door near the very end of the hallway, with a particularly tall, surly looking guard posted in the front...and ridiculous off-key singing coming from within.

The guard nodded to the officer taking her to her cell, before gingerly sliding open a little slot, at eye level, where he could look inside. The sound of singing paused.

Suddenly, a pair of shrewd, heavy lidded blue eyes appeared on the other side of the slot, causing Cewong to jump in alarm. The blue irises darted back and forth for a moment, as if examining the surroundings, before landing on Cewong.

"_Heyyyyyyy!_" exclaimed the lively female voice attached to the eyes, "Who's the new girl? Is she the newest guard for me to entertain?"

The guard did not respond; he merely took a deep breath and clenched his fists before irritably saying, "She's a prisoner who needs to be put in your cell. Now shut it."

"YES! I get a cell mate!" said the other girl inside the cell, her impish blue eyes flashing to the surly guard, "You know hwat dude, this is really swell because we're going to have sleepovers and I'm going to teach her how to sing as well as I can. And we'll compose love songs for you to sing to your girlfr-...wait, do you even have a girlfriend?"

The guard chose not to answer, but he did start to develop an alarming tic in the jaw.

"So you don't have a girlfriend, huh?" said the girl, mischievous eyes widening farcically, "Ohhhhhh. So you're _that_ way. Well, I guess instead, you could sing the love songs to your boyfr-"

_BANG!_

The guard finally snapped and slammed his fist into the door, yelling out a litany of swear words that sent Cewong's eyebrows rocketing into her hairline.

"Uh oh! Somebody's getting a wittle bit _toooooo_ defensive!" grinned the reckless prisoner, "Your cursing this time was even more creative than than last time you lost your marbles."

"_SHUT. UP._ Speak one more word and this girl suffers for your insubordination!" roared the guard, wrenching open the door and roughly shoving Cewong inside. Angrily, he slammed the door shut, allowing semi darkness to engulf the cell.

Cewong apprehensively moved to the corner of the tiny steel enclosure, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the lesser light. She was met with the sight of a room of about four by five meters with a tiny slit of a window on the ceiling. On all sides where metal walls, marred by sporadic clusters of small dents, and two deflated mattresses sat on opposite sides of the room. In the back corner, there was a small squat toilet, covered with a plastic curtain in the fading pattern of turtleducks. Adjacent to it, a tiny sink stuck out of the wall. In the other back corner of the room, there was a small office-like space with a filing cabinet, lamp, sketching tools, and surprisingly, a computer.

_I thought prisoners weren't allowed access to electronics..._

Suddenly, her examination of the room was cut off by the blue eyed girl, tan, lanky, smug-looking, with puffy bangs and a small upturned nose. She looked to be in her late teens and her mouth seemed to be frozen in a perpetual cheshire-like grin. Within the first few seconds of meeting, Cewong could already tell the girl was clever and had a huge ego.

"So, cell mate," smirked the other prisoner, lounging grandiosely on her ratty mattress, "What brings you to my domain?"

Cewong shrugged. If she told the truth, the girl would think she was crazy.

"Quiet, aren't we?" noted the girl, "Can you at least tell me your name? You seem a little young for prison."

"Hmm." hummed Cewong noncommittally. She didn't want to think about hername or who she was. She didn't want to think about anything at all. She didn't want to remember that she was a fifteen year old, who managed to screw up so magnificently in her search for knowledge on a socially taboo subject. Honestly, she still felt a bit numb, not ready to even admit if what happened was real.

"_How the Koh does this even happen?_" she muttered to herself.

"Who in the what now?" asked her cell mate with lifted eyebrows.

"I...well..."

"Okay, let's start with this: are you going to kill me? I mean, not that an actual sociopathic killer would answer honestly or anything..."

"No! I'm not convicted for murder!"

"Okay, so you are probably a soft hearted little weirdo who is way too curious about all the wrong stuff?"

"Well, that's one way to put it." said Cewong awkwardly twiddling her fingers.

"_Haha! I win!_" said the other girl triumphantly, "Now tell me your name. If you don't, I'll have to ask my friend out there." she whispered conspiratorially, sticking her thumb towards the guard outside her door.

"Errrm...right. Oh, uh, and my name is Cewong." she mumbled, still feeling a bit apprehensive about the other prisoner.

"Cool! I'm Shikoba Varrick."

"Wait..._VARRICK_?" cried Cewong incredulously, "The same as _Varrick Global_!?"

"Oh, so _nooow_ she shows some interest." huffed the other girl, examining her nails with an air of false pretension.

"Wow, I'm sorry..._wow_, it's an honor!" said Cewong, eagerly sticking out a hand.

Shikoba looked down from her hand to her face, making no move to reciprocate.

"_Gurrrrl_...normal teenagers don't do that." she smirked, "But you're not normal, are ya?"

Cewong stared at her, feeling the slightest bit affronted and put down.

"Hey, no offense though. I mean, I'm not normal either. In fact, the only reason my memories haven't been wiped yet is 'cuz they need me to invent stuff."

"Wait, _WHAT!?_" cried Cewong, "They're going to wipe my memories!?"

"Probably. Well...not all of them, of course." said Shikoba nonchalantly, "They're going to interrogate you first so they can figure out how to selectively reprogram your mind so that you'll be better suited for their society again!" she said with sardonic enthusiasm.

"Why? I'm not even dangerous! I'm just fifteen! And they're just going to throw me back in the world afterwards? Then I won't be...well..._me_ anymore!"

"Well, no matter what happens, they at least won't do it until you're a bit stronger." grinned Shikoba, stretching out on her ratty mattress.

"Why?"

"Well, most prisoners have some deeper secrets that they would rather not give out. Especially ones that might endanger family or friends." replied Shikoba, tilting her head to the side, "In those cases, they might have to do a little bit..._erm...'rigorous physical persuasion.'_"

Cewong twitched uneasily. Somehow, she had been hoping against all odds that the rumors about this prison had been false. That perhaps her trip would not encompass any pain–_no._ No, not just pain. The prisoners here are forced to bare their soul and lose their minds. In her opinion, that was a fate almost as cruel as death.

"Hey, don't be too scared." said Shikoba, "Why don't you just tell me everything now! I mean, they probably have cameras recording our conversation, so might as well, right? It'll probably save you a tiny bit of pain if they knew stuff initially!"

Cewong glared.

"And I am actually kinda interested. How did a little runt like you manage to land yourself in such a wonderfully dangerous, state of the art prison?"

"Its kinda hard to explain..." said Cewong said gritted teeth.

"Lemme guess, you were one of those kids who had a sudden blossom in bending power and you didn't want to give it up? Or were you were one of those smart-mouths who had the system all figured out, like myself?" asked Shikoba, puffing out her chest proudly. Then, she deflated and looked at Cewong thoughtfully before saying, "Actually, just kidding. You are neither smart nor powerful."

"Hey!" said Cewong indignantly, "I'm smart! And I'm not a bender!"

"Just tell me then! It's not like we have anything else to do in this little dump."

"Fine. I found some ancient archives with information about...about...the _Avatar._" whispered Cewong, "And I was really curious about it, because there is really no information about it anywhere. So I-"

"Wait a sec, where did you find them? How come nobody else destroyed them yet?"

"They were in a cave a few miles from where I live, and it had the weirdest little cubbyholes-"

"Why am I not surprised that you pick around in caves?"

"_Hmff._" huffed Cewong indignantly.

"Hey, sorry I damaged your poor fragile ego." smirked Shikoba, "Okay, continue. I won't interrupt."

"_Hmmf._ Anyways, somebody found out about it and these two policemen followed me into the cave later that night when I wanted to take pictures, and I panicked and tried to run away but then they tasered me and..."

Here, Cewong trailed off, not certain if she should bother explaining the next part. Especially now that she herself had hazy memories about what actually happened.

"Hey," nudged Shikoba, "You alright? What happened then?"

"Erm...I think I summoned a demon fox."

"_WHAT!?_" cried Shikoba.

She leapt off the bed and seized Cewong by the ears, yanking her face forwards to peer into her eyes maniacally. Then, after a second, the older girl calmed down, releasing Cewong's ears as she slouched back on her mattress, legs crossed.

"Okay, I believe you." smiled Shikoba as her face settled into an expression of blissful understanding.

Cewong rubbed her throbbing ears and gawked at Shikoba, who was now staring vacuously into space.

_She's a complete spaz._

Her cellmate had no filter or stability in her words or her actions, but still seemed unnervingly intelligent. Cewong had never met anyone with such an acute capability of irking people. It made her wonder: _how did such a smart person end up in a prison?_ Was she so perceptive that it wouldn't even be safe to erase her memories before allowing her back to society?

"_Why are you still here?_" asked Cewong, half to herself.

"You asking why they haven't killed me yet?" smirked Shikoba with a raised eyebrow.

"W-what, _no!_" sputtered Cewong. She hadn't even considered that they would kill people! Would she be so dangerous that they'd have to kill her? How did she never hear about this before?

"Aw narts. I just stole away your innocence, didn't I?" said Shikoba, smirk growing even wider, "You're so easy to manipulate, little girl. You just gobbled up everything the world says, don't you?"

Cewong, glowered at her for what seemed like the millionth time that day, but decided to ignore her comment and change the topic.

"Why didn't they erase your memories?" she asked.

"I told you before, I invent stuff for them! How could I not! I was the person who was supposed to inherit Varrick Global...but then I started poking around and I got arrested too and I ended up here. My grandma was probably ready to disown me." she trailed off a little here, coming down from her state of deranged euphoria for once.

"_Oh_. Um, I'm sure my parents are proba-"

"I haven't seen her since. And it's really crappy!" interrupted Shikoba rudely, "I have a nagging suspicion that she's brainwashed."

"Well that sucks for you!" snapped Cewong uncharacteristically.

She was normally quite mellow, but being around this rude, caustic, arrogant girl grated on even _her_ nerves. Plus, the dizzying feeling of worry, shame, and homesickness did nothing to quell her oncoming frustration.

"It does suck! Thanks for agreeing!" said Shikoba, her perpetual grin back in place, "Grams was such a nice lady too."

"Wait, what about your parents?" asked Cewong, "Why did you only mention your grandmother?"

"Oh. Welllllll, my parents died on their honeymoon. I was born out of wedlock, you see." said Shikoba to Cewong's confused expression, "It was quite a scandal! Anyways, they finally got married when I was two, and went on this awesomely dangerous honeymoon and never came back. I don't even remember what they looked like." she said thoughtfully, "Although I was told that I looked like my dad."

"Oh...I'm sorry. I can't imagine how much you miss them." said Cewong awkwardly, "But at least they'll be proud that you're still carrying on the business, even if it is from within prison, right?"

"HA! Not really. I don't miss them at all...can't miss what you never had right?" she said brightly, "Besides, they probably had a _planned accident._"

"A...what?"

"A planned accident! You see, dad broke off the company's partnership with the "Order of An", and they-"

"_Geez, are _all_ rich people associated with the order?_" muttered Cewong.

"Or are all people associated with them rich? Real food for the brain huh?" said Shikoba mischievously, "Okay, anyways, dad broke off the partnership with the Order of An just a few months before his honeymoon. I've never met anyone from within the order, but I can't imagine that they'd be too happy about losing an important ally! So yah. Dad didn't want to continue making crap for them. And here I am, ruining his goal. _Hmmf._"

"Why don't you stop? Oh wait, is it because they'll erm..."

"No. They won't kill me," said Shikoba, reading Cewong's mind, "But they might kill someone else!"

"What do you mean?" asked Cewong.

"I don't know, maybe Grams?" shrugged Shikoba, "Or they threaten to hurt other prisoners in front of me. Like yourself, remember!?"

"Wait, you knew the guard might have killed me? And you still made fun of him!?"

"Well, no, they wouldn't have. They might have tortured you, but they would do that anyways!"

"Well there's gotta be something you can do!"

"Nope. There's literally nothing. I've even tried to commit suicide!" she said brightly, "Didn't work. That's why they have a guard posted in front of the door now. After I tried it that one time, they healed me up and immediately did some crappy stuff to other prisoners when I was watching. It's pretty awful to have a sense of humanity in those cases you know! Now they really don't need to guard me, because I'm not risking it again."

Cewong curled up into a ball on her mattress, sickened by how casually Shikoba talked about matters of life and death.

All of a sudden, a shout in from the hallway announced, "_LIGHTS OUT!_"

As the room was engulfed with complete darkness, Cewong looked up at the narrow window in the ceiling, surprised to find that it was already past twilight. She could see harsh orange light glaring into the black sky, turning it into a weird purplish haze that obscured the stars. She sighed and slumped into her mattress, not even bothering to settle into the threadbare blankets.

Out of the blue, she heard a tiny, chilling groan, so soft and deep it was almost imperceptible.

"_Shikoba!_" muttered Cewong with trepidation, "_Was that you?_"

"Nope!" whispered the other girl, wide eyes staring blankly towards the dark ceiling, "I must have forgotten to mention, we're right next to the interrogation rooms. You should be flattered. They reserve this end of the corridor for particularly dangerous victims!"

"What? Why?" hissed Cewong, flinching as she heard another pained moan in the dark.

"Its all mental, you know?" mumured Shikoba, fixating her unnerving blue gaze back on Cewong, "The sound of other people's pain really wears you down. But don't worry. You get used to it after a while. Pretty screwed up, huh?"

Cewong swallowed before exhaling shakily.

"This particular guy, the one that you're hearing now, they've been going at him for the better part of two weeks. He must have some pretty crucial information." prattled Shikoba insensitively, "Too bad we can't hear any clear words, in case he confesses. I'm trying to piece everything together, you know? None of it makes sense. Nothing about the nature of our world! Oh well, I'm never leaving anyways, so I can't even tell anyone on the outside. After a while, you'll probably have to leave and I'll be all alone again."

This prompted Cewong to look over. She hadn't even considered that her cell mate had been alone for so long. Could she have been going insane from it? Did it create her complete lack of compassion and stability? She surely wasn't normal, but Cewong could not tell if it was from eccentric ingenuity lack of human interaction.

Cewong glanced over, feeling more than a little alarmed by the fact that Shikoba was still staring blankly at the ceiling, wide awake as if she had no intention of ever sleeping. When another low, hair raising groan sounded from the adjacent room, Shikoba didn't even blink, although her eyes did seem to glaze over slightly.

Perhaps the grim prison was more distressing than she let on.

Cewong pressed her palms into her ears before shrinking into a tiny ball as close to the wall as possible. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to suppress all of her riotous emotions and fall asleep.

No such luck. Between her concern for her psychotic cellmate, shame, dread and sickening fear, magnified tenfold by the tortured sounds coming from the adjecent room, Cewong had no hope of getting any sleep.

She braced herself for a long night of insomnia.

* * *

><p>an: I'm have been reading to much Poe lately. (Jk, I've actually only read two things by him.)

Okay, important info: Cewong is very short and naive (I probably didn't need to tell you that) and Shikoba means "feathered water snake" in Sioux, I think. Varrick Global has passed down through the family for 500 years (not realistic, I know). The Order of An is an group of dudes that may or may not show up later. And "AN" (Pronounced as "ahn"/án/安) means "safe/stable" in Chinese.

Review!


	7. Chapter 7

a/n: Hello, I am back with more crappy chapters.

You remember what I said about this being a nice, progressive society to live in? Well, I change my mind. It's actually kind of Leninist: wonderful and strong and efficient for ignorant and compliant people, and dangerous for others.

Also, there will be some gore in the middle. Oh ya, and nothing belongs to me.

* * *

><p>Cewong blinked blearily, feeling the uncomfortable tugging of a salty crust clinging to her eyelashes. Her eyelids had the heavy protuberance of sleep deprivation, a feeling that she was definitely not used to. It was like this prison drained all of the peace in her, any ability to sleep, to think, to dream.<p>

Then, she noticed a long droning, clicking noise, and she turned to the corner of the cell where she remembered there being a desk.

To her surprise, Shikoba was sitting there, typing away at a keyboard. Her back was hunched over and dim yellow light flooded out of the small lamp onto her face. Laying around her was a mess of books, diagrams of Qi points, complicated sketches, and lists full of long, scientific-sounding words. On the screen of the monitor, Cewong could see some sort of article with Shikoba's typed notes on the side.

Suddenly, Shikoba let out a little growl and punched the steel wall, causing Cewong to give a startled jump.

Her mattress squeaked and Shikoba whipped around at the sound.

"Hey! You're awake!" she exclaimed happily.

"Yeah." said Cewong groggily, "What are you doing?"

"Making stuff. Well...thinking about how to make stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Designing an experiment for the effects of electromagnetic waves on Qi points and surrounding nerves." grinned Shikoba, "Care for me to elaborate?"

"Erm, not unless you want to." said Cewong politely.

"'Kay. I don't really. I've been thinking about this crap for too long!" said Shikoba, hopping out of her chair and stretching. As she reached her hands towards the ceiling, a series of _cracks_ came from her spine.

"How long were you working on that?" asked Cewong, rubbing her gritty eyes.

"I don't know...I started a little while after you fell asleep." replied Shikoba, starting to pace, "So, maybe like six hours or so?"

"Wait, so you didn't sleep all night!?" asked Cewong with concerned glance at the tiny window on the ceiling. Judging from the colorless sky, it was just barely dawn.

"Nah. Wasn't sleepy." said Shikoba unconcernedly, "Although I do have a bit of a headache now!"

"Oh. I'm sorry." said Cewong, "Do you want to sleep now?"

"Nope! I would like some nice bitter black tea though!" she replied, "In fact..."

Shikoba strode to the door in the exit and crouched down, pressing her ear against it. For a few seconds, the other girl just stood still and listened. Then she turned back to Cewong and smirked.

"The guard is snoring like a baby moose-lion." she whispered triumphantly while standing up, "I'm going to give him a surprise."

Then, she drew back her leg for a moment before slamming her heel into the door, adding another small dent.

A muffled exclamation of _"GAH!"_ could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Hey sleeping beauty!" she called to the other side of the door, "You wanna get me some tea?"

There was only silence.

"Oh well. It was worth a try." she said ruefully, "I was really hoping for something caffeinated though."

"Caffeine is very addictive." stated Cewong, "It might be harmful if-"

"I know it's addictive, silly!" grinned Shikoba, "It's even more addictive when it's mixed with dextromethorphan, astragalus extract, sugar, and a touch of heroin."

"And how would you know this?" said Cewong, a bit irritated that the other girl was flaunting her knowledge.

"They make me go out sometimes to experiment in the labs. I actually found out how potent it was by accident. I got curious and tried a crap ton!" she said thoughtfully, "It felt pretty awesome, but I couldn't stop shivering and sweating and vomiting for about a week afterwards. After just the first time, can you believe it?"

Cewong gaped at her incredulously. That was so incredibly stupid that Cewong wondered if it was another attempt to kill herself.

"That _was_ kind of reckless, wasn't it?" said Shikoba proudly, "Although I'm quite sad that I discovered it. Now they're using to loosen up prisoners."

"Wait, how?" asked Cewong warily.

"Well, first they see if giving the prisoner the drug will make them loopy at enough to spill secrets on their own. If not, then they just keep feeding it to them until they build a lot of tolerance." explained Shikoba pragmatically, "Then, the dosage suddenly stops and when the prisoners are in severe withdrawal, they'll reveal almost anything to get another hit."

"Well, at least that's not as bad as, like, physical questioning." said Cewong in a sad attempt at optimism, "Probably not as painful."

Shikoba raised and eyebrow.

"You know, it's a lot more humiliating though. Totally changes your nature." said Shikoba, "In fact, I'm surprised they haven't tried it on that guy yet." she continued, sticking her thumb to the wall of the adjacent chamber, where Cewong remembered hearing the pained groans from last night.

Suddenly, another sound came from the same there, but instead of moan or scream, it was a laugh, deep, loud and slightly delirious.

Shikoba and Cewong both jumped a little from the unexpectedness of it.

"_Ooookay_. Just kidding." said Shikoba, recovering quickly, "Seems like they used it after all."

Then after another moment of unnerving silence, they could hear two loud, echoing screams coming from the adjacent chamber. And if they listen even more carefully they could hear the tiniest spattering of liquid on the floor. It was followed by a loud screeching noise of ice on steel and the wrenching sound of a door being torn off of its hinges.

Almost immediately, boot steps thundered down the hallway outside as the officers rushed over to investigate. The sound of bullets, being fired in close quarters, echoed down the hallway but were not as numerous as the loud groans and screams and sickening splashes onto the ground. Then, Cewong noticed that there seemed to be a red liquid creeping through the crack at the bottom of their cell door, which she identified as blood in horror.

Cewong could not help herself as a scream bubbled out from between her lips and echoed throughout their little chamber. At the sound, the commotion outside of the cell stopped and the blood seeping underneath the door sprang up as if it had a life of its own. It started to crystallize and freeze from the bottom of the door slowly creeping up like crimson vines. Suddenly the door cracked down the middle and the two halves were pried to apart more easily than two slabs of clay.

Cewong backed into the back wall of the cell and flinched at the metallic wrenching noise. Shikoba, on the other hand, tilted her head to one side and peeked out the door in curiousity.

"Shikoba!" hissed Cewong, "Get back! Are you crazy!?"

"Nope! Come out! It seems relatively safe." said Shikoba, standing up straight and marching out the broken door recklessly.

Cewong wrapped her arms around her torso and delicately tried to step around the puddles of red liquid on the ground. Then, she took a deep breath before stepping out into the hallway...and she almost vomited.

The entire hallway was coated with spatters and rivulets of crimson liquid, sickening shades of dark blood congealing on the cold grey walls. And scattered arbitrarily around the edges were several unidentifiable lumps of crimson coated cloth and things too horrifying to think about.

For a moment, the scene was so lurid that Cewong was sure she was either in a dream, or watching an exceptionally well made horror mover. But when she inhaled, the dizzying stench of death, raw and heavy and metallic, was much too real to be her overactive imagination.

Her vision swam in front of her eyes, and she braced her hand on the wall to keep from falling, but drew back in horror when she felt her palm connect with a slick, warm, slippery surface.

Just then, something inside of her snapped, and she charged blindly away from the hallway, choking down a scream of terror and revulsion. She barely noticed all of the other opened cell doors and rioting prisoners; she barely noticed the sickening sliding of her shoes on the slippery, uneven floors; she didn't even notice the guards who seemed to be spontaneously exploding inside out and layering lumpty red onto everything in the general vicinity.

All she could feel was the primal, animalistic feeling of being trapped and agitated to get away...far, far away from all of this terrible carnage. She had to run in the outdoors and breath fresh air and feel the comforting presence of life, and growth, and sunlight on green grass. She had to, but she couldn't, and her desperation grew heavier and heavier in her fluttering chest.

At that moment, Cewong could've sworn she felt her sanity shattering into millions of pieces. Delirium surged up from the base of her spine, sweeping through her small body like a wave of fury and terror and hatred. Violent flashes of white and red and black rushed around riotously in her vision, completely obliterating any awareness of her surroundings. Her ears were filled with the sound of billowing winds and screeching metal, roaring fires and blood splattering around like raindrops in a typhoon.

Distantly, she heard a familiar yell before the storm of energy inside her slowed down, and she felt the sensation of falling again, limp as a ragdoll. With a resounding "whump," she landed in a pair of skinny arms and felt all the breath being knocked out of her.

"Ughhh." groaned Cewong, exerting an ungodly amount of effort to move her leaden muscles.

Suddenly, she felt a jolting and heard a deep male voice mumbling something indistinct. Then, a female voice coming from the person who caught her hiss something indignantly. It sounded like...

"Shikoba?" muttered Cewong, wrenching open her heavy eyelids.

At first, the bright sunlight blinded her, but slowly, her eyes began to register the incredible level of destruction around her. What used to be a prison now looked like the site of a simultaneous tornado, hurricane, earthquake, and atomic bomb detonation. The ground was littered with bits of debris, large cracks spiderwebbed across the concrete foundations, and metal sheets were twisted together and decorated with black soot and blood, like sick figures of abstract art. Heavy particles of dirt floated around hazily in the cold, morning light and settled on the twisted wreckage in a soft layer of grey. Through the ringing in her ears, she could hear muffled groans of people. _(Well, the surviving ones anyways.)_

For a moment, Cewong was stared at the carnage in shock before flailing out of Shikoba's arms and landing heavily on the ground.

"Wh...what happened?" she gasped kneeling down bonelessly.

"You did something incredibly powerful." growled the male voice she had heard arguing Shikoba earlier.

Cewong looked up and met a pair of cruel steely blue and grey eyes set deep into a long, dark face with high cheekbones and very hairy eyebrows. Bruises and blood was spattered liberally over his hollow cheekbones and square jaw, and his hair was choppy and matted. He looked like a gangly, half-starved, angry young man in his twenties, but it was hard to tell with all the injuries.

"Who are you?" asked Cewong as she stood up and shuffled away nervously.

"What are _you_?" he asked, looming up to her intimidatingly.

"A...a girl?" murmured Cewong nervously.

"Speak up." he growled, barrelling forwards to grab Cewong by the scruff of the neck with one arm. The other arm seemed to be twisted at an odd angle.

"HEY!" barked Shikoba, slapping his arm, "Be nice!"

The young man whipped around and glared at her, but dropped Cewong back on the ground anyways.

"Will you rat on me?" he snapped at the two of them bluntly.

"Nope." replied Shikoba with a complacent smile, although her eyes were narrowed into arrogant, mocking slits.

Cewong opened her mouth, then closed it, then looked at Shikoba a bit pleadingly. Why couldn't she have guts like her crazy acquaintance?

As if the other girl could read her mind, Shikoba slung an arm around Cewong's shoulders and said, "And little baby-girl here won't tell either."

Cewong scowled at Shikoba and shrugged off her arm before glancing nervously back towards the young man.

Suddenly, when he sound of a gunshot rang through the haze, the young man froze and his eyes darted back and forth in panic before he sprinted away.

"Hey, wait a sec!" called Shikoba, chasing after him.

Cewong, who was completely at loss, decided to follow Shikoba. She didn't know what to do otherwise, and she was terrified by the thought of being caught and thrown into a cell again, all alone and waiting to be brainwashed.

Luckily, running was a thing that always came easily to Cewong. She darted after Shikoba and the creepy young man who they met earlier, taking care not to trip over the debris littering the ground.

"Shikoba!" she panted, right as she saw a mop of brown hair turning the corner, "Shikoba! Why are you going after him?"

There was no response.

Desperate not to lose sight of them, Cewong put on another burst of speed and rounded the corner as well. Now, she was speeding towards the end of a dark alleyway, with what seemed like a large tunnel at the end.

Then, she hear a few angry growls and the sound of a scuffle coming from the mouth of the tunnel. As she got closer, Cewong could see that it was Shikoba, along with that other young man they had found earlier. Despite the young man being a great deal taller and heavier, Shikoba seemed to have the upper hand. (Literally, she was on top of him) The other guy seemed to be in a lot of pain, from what she could see.

"Stop!" shouted Cewong as she caught up to them, "What are you doing!?"

"Are you crazy, little brat?" snarled the young man through gritted teeth, "Keep it down. And get this crazy shithead off of me."

"Hey!" smiled Shikoba, giving another jerk on the arm she was twisting behind his back, "That really hurt my feelings!"

The young man hissed, and Cewong leaned in. Upon further investigation, Cewong found that the arm was bent in a very unhealthy angle.

"Shikoba!" she hissed in alarm, "Shikoba, I think his arm is broken!"

"No kidding!" she replied cheerily, "That's why I'm twisting it backwards!"

Cewong gaped. She was very surprised that Shikoba could be so cruel. The girl that she met had been caustic, yes, but also very charismatic and welcoming!

Well...now that she thought about it, there was always a soulless side to the other girl that was dangerously pragmatic and apathetic towards human suffering.

Suddenly, Cewong was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a distant wail of sirens.

Now the young man really started to squirm underneath Shikoba.

"Let go of me you insane bitch!" he snarled as the sirens approached them, "Do you want us to all get caught?"

"No. Do you?" she asked him patiently.

"NO! _Fine!_ I'll fucking help you!" he snapped, wincing once Shikoba let go of his arm, which flopped uselessly to the side. Then, he sprang up and ushered all of them down the damp, pitch black tunnel at the end of the alleyway.

Once they were far enough that they couldn't see any more light, the little group stopped for a moment. Cewong heard a wet scraping and trickling that echoed softly around the damp walls of the tunnel, which was magnified tenfold by her lack of vision.

"What's that noise?" she whispered in apprehension.

For a moment, everything was silent, then there was a sudden, her field of vision was illuminated by a ghostly blue glow.

Cewong stared at amazement, her eyes lit up by the water that was encircled around the young man's arm. It looked like the broken area of his arm was held together by a rippling, gel like blob of clear cerulean, which illuminated everyone's faces like a rippling blue candle.

"Whoa. What is that?" asked Cewong in amazement, "It's so beautiful. It looks like magic."

"It's bending." said the young man shortly.

Cewong gasped. No way! Bending was supposed to be violent, and hideous, and cause the user to be drunk on power! There was no way it could possibly flicker and glow like an exotic piece of art.

"Hey...you uh, you probably shouldn't do that," said Cewong awkwardly. "I mean, bending isn't good, erm...sir."

The young man gave her a very odd look for a moment, before bursting into a series of low, growly, _harumphing_ noises.

Cewong was growing concerned, before she realized that he was actually laughing.

"Did you seriously just call me _sir?_" mocked the young man, "I'm fuckin' twenty one, not eighty."

"Okay, do you have a name other than _Mr. 'Fuckin'-twenty-one-not-eighty'?"_ snarked Shikoba.

"Saviq." he snapped.

"Hello Saviq." said Cewong quickly, trying to relieve some tension, so Shikoba won't get impatient and get into a fight with Saviq again.

"And you are...Cewong? And Shikoba." he said, taking care to pronounce the older girl's name like it tasted vile.

Shikoba paid no attention to his insult, opting to squint at him suspiciously instead.

"Wait a minute...you've heard our names? You can waterbend? You have a super deep voice that can probably carry through steel walls? And you look thoroughly mutilated..." noted Shikoba, with a hand resting pensively on her chin, "You must be that one dude in the chamber next to ours! I had to listen to your screams for like two weeks straight, you know." she added.

Saviq whipped around and bared his teeth at her, his anger causing the glowing blue water to tremble and scatter light rays violently across the wall of the otherwise dark tunnel.

"So sorry that you had to spend two weeks sitting on your fat ass, coming up with more inventive ways for them to torture me!"

"Dude...you should be thanking me, not apologizing." smirked Shikoba, "Oh, and by the way, never call a girl fat! Yeesh, how are you ever going to get a lady friend if you're such a prick?"

"I don't care! Why would I thank you!?" he snapped, "_Psychopath._"

"They stuck a needle in you and gave you some black, gooey stuff today, right?"

"Yes..."

"And then you went nuts?"

"I-"

"It felt great, didn't it! Really great Qi booster! I came up with that thing. Tested it on myself." said Shikoba proudly, "They must have given up on using physical torture to open your mouth. Had to move onto the psychological stuff, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"The idea is to give it to you because it's ridiculously addictive." said Shikoba, "Once you start on withdrawal, you basically do anything you can to get your hands on more."

Saviq gaped at her. "Uh, I-"

"You probably have, like, six or so hours before you start shivering and blowing chunks." grinned Shikoba, "I really hope you have good self control, or a restraining device or something."

Saviq growled in anger whipped around, strutting down the hallway. He was still holding the glowing water to his arm.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Cewong as she and Shikoba hurried after Saviq.

"Somewhere to lock myself up."

"Oh! You have a secret hideout!?" asked Shikoba excitedly.

Saviq opted not to reply.

"Are you sure nobody will be able to find us?" asked Cewong nervously. She she had no desire to be rediscovered.

"No."

"Did you cut the tracking devices out of your body?" asked Shikoba.

"Yeah. You think I'm stupid enough to forget about those?"

"Yes." smirked Shikoba.

Saviq gave a long suffered sigh.

Cewong ducked her head in embarrassment. She hadn't even considered it.

* * *

><p>A while later, they arrived at a narrow river of raw sewage, oozing lethargically down the concrete canal. Occasionally, a bubble would rise to the surface and release a nauseating pocket of fumes into the air. The indistinguishable shades of brown sludge reflected dull light streaming out of a tiny crack from above.<p>

Without hesitation, Saviq jumped in with a gooey _splash_, and Shikoba followed suite.

Cewong, on the other hand, was clutching her mouth and trying not to vomit. How were the other two so tolerant? She was disgusted, but could not help but admire their grit.

"Brat." snapped Saviq glaring at her, "Hurry up."

Cewong scowled. He was one of the biggest jerks she had ever met.

"I actually have a name!" she said indignantly, "And why do we have to go in there?"

"Because I said so." said Saviq obstinately, "Now get in if you don't want to get caught and executed."

Cewong held her breath and stoically splashed into the gritty liquid. Then, Saviq used bending _(oh no!)_ to create a shield so their faces would remain clean at least. However, the waterbent shield didn't block the stench.

Unable to contain herself, Cewong burst out, "It smells terrible."

"Stop complaining. It'll get better." replied Saviq, as they entered a tunnel and became completely submerged by the rancid sludge and darkness.

"How would you know?" snapped Cewong petulantly, hoping that Saviq wasn't just leading them down the tunnel to drown them.

"Let's just say I'm well acquainted with this area."

Cewong eyed him suspiciously. Had he used this place as a hiding place before? Was he a bending criminal?

"Why do you know this area so well?"

Saviq seemed to deliberate a moment before answering, "I used to practice waterbending here."

"But people would get suspicious!" said Cewong, "If you were doing something wrong, why didn't you just do it at home?"

"I lived in an orphanage." he replied shortly.

"O...oh." said Cewong awkwardly, "Uh, I'm sorry."

Cewong couldn't see his expression since he walked with his back turned to her, but she could have sworn that he rolled and his eyes.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Shikoba asked, "Hey, did you know this used to be the site of an iron mine?"

"So?" snapped Saviq.

"And it's close to the sea!"

"Why do I give a fuck?"

"Conductivity! _Duh._ Holographic subsurface radar is impeded by the presence of conductive materials such as metal or salt infused soils!"

"I understood none of that."

"Idiot." sighed Shikoba happily, "That means nobody can track us here!"

"Why didn't you just say that to begin with?"

"Why do you have to be such a brainless thug?"

"Why can't you keep your humongous mouth shut?"

"Why can't you just shush and do your magic sewage water thing?"

Suddenly, Saviq stopped in his tracks, causing Shikoba to crash into his back and Cewong to crash into Shikoba's. Then, he turned around and stared at the two of them very seriously, boring into their eyes. He looked somber and a little lost.

"Why do trust me?" he asked suspiciously.

"That, my dear, is a great question!" replied Shikoba cheerily, completely disregarding Saviq's grave mood.

She gave no further explanation, and for the next five minutes, the three of them trudged along the tunnel in absolute silence.

By the time they reached the end, the water was mostly clear and reduced to a small trickle that only reached their ankles. The air was also fresher, much fresher than the other end. From what Cewong could see, they had arrived in a massive, box-like, concrete cavern. Weak light filtered into the chamber from a tiny grate in the fifty meter ceiling, and there were many other tunnels lining the flat walls. Some were rough brown stone and naturally occurring, and made of rusty metal gilded over concrete. The entire space was filled with the sound of small trickles and drips of water.

"Where are we?" she whispered, her voice echoing around the high, damp walls.

"Almost there." replied Saviq, headed for a medium-sized cavern extending to the right.

It was pitch black again, but Saviq seemed to know where he was going perfectly well. It was almost like he had an uncanny sixth sense, allowing him to avoid crashing into the wet, slimy walls of the cave. On the other hand Cewong and Shikoba tripped along blindly, running their fingers along the sides of the tunnel, but still somehow managing to faceplant into the walls repeatedly. Cewong could've sworn that the walls were deliberately jumping in front of her face.

"Hey Savage," said Shikoba, "Can't you do that glowy water thing so we can see better?"

"No."

"_Pleeeeeeaaaaaase?_"

"No."

"Why?"

"It takes energy, moron."

"Oh, _I'm_ the moron."

"Yes."

"Am not!"

"Not gonna respond."

At that, Shikoba managed to convey all the petulance of a three-year-old in a single, indignant _"hmmf!"_

Cewong trailed along after the two of them, feeling faintly jealous of Saviq for monopolizing all of Shikoba's attention. She knew it was unreasonable, but Shikoba was actually the first person who actually accepted her for being a complete weirdo. Strangely enough, this callous nineteen-year-old genius, almost her polar opposite, was better suited to being her friend than any of the other people who lived in the same community, went to the same school, and were of equal social standing as her. But then Saviq, the rude, obscene crazy thug, had to come along and capture all of her potential friend's attention. It was unfair.

But if Cewong were honest with herself, she really was the odd one out. And not just because she was the youngest! The other two were smart and competent, and she was just this stupid little girl who only knew how to accidentally destroy stuff.

Suddenly, she heard Saviq say "Stop."

"Are we there?" asked Cewong.

"No." said Saviq, "We got to a river."

For a few moments, she heard water sloshing around in the blackness before, in a flash, she was slammed backwards by a wall of water with the force of a firehose.

Cewong shrieked as the icy cold liquid blasted beneath her clothing and ripped through her hair. When it stopped, Cewong stood there, tensed up and dripping cold, with chattering teeth and skin that felt like it was rubbed raw by frosty sandpaper.

"_Wh-what was that f-f-for?_" she stuttered, shivering so hard that her knees knocked together.

"You smelled." growled Saviq.

Then, she felt a weird sensation like water droplets were crawling upwards, creeping up from the soles of her sandals, vaporizing from her clothing and lifting her hair upwards as moisture was removed from her scalp. Now she was...dry. And clean

"Wow, that actually felt nice." stated Shikoba, "I almost wish I was a bender now. Never gonna need to take an actual shower again."

"You're the most disgusting woman I've ever met." grumbled Saviq, footsteps echoing away.

"Hey, where're you going?" asked Shikoba.

"We need to go into the river."

"Why?"

"There's a cave inside that's completely concealed. And further downstream, it empties into another cave by the sea."

"Aw, so we'll need to swim?" said Cewong dejectedly.

"No. Just follow me."

Cewong did, and was surprised to find that her feet sank into damp sand.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Making a bubble." he said.

Cewong reached out a hand and was surprised that it could reach through a solid wall of water. It reminded her of the time that she was in a boat with her family and she trailed her hands through the water in a lake, but vertically. It was cool, that much was true, but it was still bending, which was a little weird to her. She still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that Saviq's bending was useful and pretty.

"Why do you still have bending?" asked Cewong.

"I discovered it late." said Saviq, "I was old enough to have the sense not to tell anyone."

"But, didn't you know that it was, I dunno, weird?" asked Cewong,with a nagging suspicion that he left something unsaid.

"I was a power hungry little shit, okay?"

"But power if not good if it makes you liable to abuse others-"

"That sounds like it came straight out a propaganda textbook." snapped Saviq. He sounded congested and even crankier than before.

"But it's true!"

"Well my power addiction is keeping you from drowning right now, so I would shut up." he sniffed.

Cewong huffed, feeling very offended. But she stayed quiet. Saviq was right; although he was the world's biggest jerk, he had saved her neck innumerable times over the course of just a few hours, so she decided to try and be at least a little friendly.

Plus, the dark, damp silence was too suffocating when it was only filled with the sounds of their breathing.

"Hey Saviq, how is your arm feeling?" she asked.

"It's healed." he mumbled.

"Wait, WHAT?"

"I said, it's healed." he repeated, slowly and patronizingly.

"So that was what the glowy thing was for?" asked Shikoba in excitement.

"Y-"

"Can you detox?" she asked.

"Why?"

"You're still chock full of drugs, right?"

"I feel fine." he snapped.

"That's 'cuz you're chock full of drugs." argued Shikoba, "You don't think you'd be able to just get up and bend after being tortured and Qi blocked for two weeks straight, right?"

"I know!"

"Wait, what happens when the drug wears off?" asked Cewong warily.

"He crashes." replied Shikoba

"And he won't be able to hold the water anymore?"

"Nope!"

"Then we'll drown!" cried Cewong in alarm, "How much longer do we have?"

"I dunno. It's already been about seven hours since we got out, right?" said Shikoba nonchalantly, "So it should start soon."

"You just had to come up with that shitty drug, didn't you?" grumbled Saviq.

"Yup!"

"What did you even put in it?"

"Mostly stimulants, and some plant thingy that makes a wicked tea. Oh, and some heroin. "

Saviq groaned. Then sniffled. Then gave a thick yawn.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Cewong with concern.

There was no response.

Cewong was growing more concerned now. What if he started already?

Lost in her thoughts, she accidentally ran into the wall of water. Irritably, she shook droplets off of her hands and scooted further inside, accidentally tripping into Saviq's back. It felt gross and feverish, hot and clammy at the same time.

"Oh, sorry!" she said, backing away and wiping her hands on her pants. This caused her to crash backwards into the wall of water again.

She braced her hand against the liquid and felt slightly alarmed that it seemed to be seeping over her hands. The air felt thicker and warmer, like their breaths were being concentrated...

"Saviq?" she asked, "Can you make this bubble larger?"

"What? Oh sorry..." he said in a thick voice.

Now Cewong was very worried. The way he replied to her was actually...polite. And he seemed to be breathing more heavily as well.

For a moment, the walls of water pressing them together seemed to expand back into a comfortable space. But a few minutes later, they started contracting again, quivering in tandem with Saviq, who seemed to be exerting an ungodly amount of strain.

"Saviq?" said Cewong.

"Shut up."

"How much farther, tough guy?" asked Shikoba.

"Not far." he hissed.

Cewong could feel him shaking violently beside her, his breath coming in short pants. The walls of water were slowly growing closer, the ceiling of it occasionally leaking down drips of cold spring water.

"You'd better hurry." murmured Shikoba.

Cewong was alarmed to hear that even Shikoba sounded a little worried.

"_Ugh_." gasped Saviq as he stumbled.

And dropped his arms.

And the water surged forwards.

"Ahh!" cried Cewong.

The last thing she heard was Saviq shouting a muffled expletive of "_FUCK!_" before she was swallowed by frigid, swirling black water.

* * *

><p>She frantically flailed around in the water, trying to find her way to the surface despite not having any sense of direction. But it was hopeless; all she managed to to do was smash into a stone wall, which clipped her shoulder painfully.<p>

She let out a yell of pain, but only felt bubbles leaving her mouth.

_No, come back air!_

Her lungs felt like they would burst, and her fingers and toes began to lose feeling. Desperately, her mouth opened, trying to take a breath of air on its own but succeeding only it filling her lungs with water. Her heart began to beat painfully in her chest as her limbs began to burn...

_Spirits, this can't be the end!_

Then, she felt a strong hand grab her hair from the roots and begin to pull her forwards, but her scalp was so numb she could barely register any pain. She was buffeted back and forth by a pair of kicking legs as her limbs trailed around limply.

Actually it didn't feel so bad after a few minutes. Other than her chest burning a little, the rest of her body was actually pleasantly warm and tingly. Her mouth was full of water that was relatively clean and fresh tasting, and the current was made a soothing, gushing noise that was peaceful compared to how it thundered in her ears before. Was this what death felt like? Would death still allow her to be cognizant? Perhaps she could even continue to visit her dreams...

Then all of a sudden, her body lurched forwards and her head broke through the surface of the water.

Instinctively, her lungs contracted and took in huge, horrendously loud gasps of stale air. A swirling, heated rush of oxygen flooded through her body, to her aching head, down through her spine, until her entire body was a burning bundle of exhausted, aching relief.

Cewong coughed up a mouthful of water, hacking out all the moisture in her lungs. To her left, she could hear Shikoba and Saviq doing the same, resounding coughs echoing all around the airy cavern.

"Are ya'll feeling like crap?" murmured Shikoba weakly.

"_Nughhhhh_." groaned Cewong, collapsing against the stony bank of the underground cave, her eyelids too heavy to open. The darkness was more comforting anyways.

"Good! That means you're alive!" Shikoba coughed.

Cewong sighed at Shikoba's optimism.

"Sorry I failed." rasped Saviq from the left of the cave.

"S'all good_._" replied Shikoba wearily.

A heavy silence rested upon all of them before Cewong heard a tiny splash followed by Shikoba gasping "_Whoa!_"

Cewong opened her eyes to see what was the matter, and to her surprise, the entire cave was illuminated by a soft, dark emerald glow coming out of quartz-like crystals. The large green gems grew out of the sides of the walls and lined the ground of the cave, casting an eerie din over all of their faces. She remembered seeing similar crystals when her parents took her on vacation to Omashu and the Cave of Two Lovers.

"The glow...it's dimmer than last time." gasped Saviq, dragging himself out of the water for a couple meters before collapsing on the stony ground in shivers.

"Well isn't that interesting." said Shikoba as she walked over to help him up, "Geez. You look like crap." she whistled as she grabbed one of his arms.

Cewong also heaved herself on her feet to help, alarmed that Saviq hadn't even bothered to give Shikoba a dirty look.

Together, the three of them stumbled over to the back of the cave and collapsed in a heap, not even bothering to dry off. Sleep was almost instantaneous.

* * *

><p>an: 6000 fricken words!? I did not even realize how long this got. Also, apologies if the ending sounded rushed. I really just wanted to get this chapter finished. Thanks once again to all the readers and followers and favoriters! (Is that even a word?)

Review!


End file.
